1. Field of the invention.
This invention is related to the use of microchannel plates (MCPs) on plate holders installed in low flow rate distillation/fractionation columns conditioned to prevent weeping of fluids through the channels, to have materials in the channels to enhance chemical reactions, and to apply electric fields across the MCPs to create synergestic mass transfer separation.
2. Description of prior art.
The MCPs were developed for electron amplification and image intensifier applications. It is not believed that the MCP has ever been used as a sieve to filter or separate materials, such as in fractional distillation columns having cross-flow of liquids across a plurality of plate holders with mixing gases being forced up from the bottom through the channels of the MCPs to separate out elements from the liquids.